We are all so concerned with just trying to make ends meet that we seem to be running in place and cannot stand back and take in the bigger picture to tell us what is actually happening. We need to ask ourselves why we are so significantly inefficient in running our lives. For many years now, we have dealt with pretty good times and have not had to worry about putting such expensive petrol into our cars, nor be concerned about the fact that without those cars we simply cannot exist. It’s been so long since we had a recession, we can’t remember what it is all about and some of us are too young anyway, being forced to read about these downturns in reference books! Whether it was time for a wake up call or not, we certainly got one.

It is crazy that we rely on mechanical energy forms to help us do everything, without question. Our energy inefficiency has led to gross amounts of greenhouse gas emissions and damage to our environment, and we need to change now! We talk a good story about the benefits of renewable energy, but we are not helping the environment by diverting funds away from the research and development needed to actually make these options work for us.

“The Great Recession,” as it has become known, has now shown us how vulnerable we are to a downturn and how we all have little to fall back on in hard times. As such, we must be efficient in everything we do and this definitely includes energy use. We all have to learn to turn appliances off, to think of what we could do as an alternative and not just opt for the easy way. We must review our transportation habits and not clog the roads with single occupant vehicles each and every day as we go back and forth to work.

If you happen to be the decision-maker either at home or in the office, come up with ways to save electricity and then put an action plan in place. Just as an example, you could turn the thermostat down by a degree or so, insist that the family turn off all the lights when not in use, make sure the clothes are washed together and not individually and in general ensure that we are all better keepers of the space that we live in.

As we know, we cannot rely on our politicians to work quickly enough. Few seem to doubt the validity of those environmental claims, but political agendas are still getting in the way of making any headway. The so-called “summit” attended by our leaders in Copenhagen failed to produce any realistic action, once again.

We don’t have to wait around for politicians to try and force big business to solve these issues. If we all do our own bit, we can save ourselves money by steadily reducing our energy use and our own carbon footprints every day, and although we can’t get this all done by ourselves, we can achieve real results if we all work together. Start right away by putting “people power” into action and let’s all enjoy the journey, taking advantage of the fact that there are billions of us around the world with an almost unbelievable combined potential – but only if we act now!